


A Secret Song

by MarzgaPerez



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Budding Love, F/M, Family History, Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 10:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12839400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarzgaPerez/pseuds/MarzgaPerez
Summary: In a way, music brought them together...





	A Secret Song

She was certain that he was following her. It would do him no good. Mamá wouldn’t approve. Julio was a nice enough boy, but he sang in the church choir, and surely Mamá would recognize him, even though she insisted that they cover their ears during the _himnos_. The other parishioners were used to the sight of Doña Imelda and her _hija_ Coco refusing to listen to any sort of music.

Coco would have resisted this rule of her mother’s, but it had always been just the two of them since Papá left to see the world. Her father had such a passion for music that he could not be contained in any one place for too long. That was the way Coco choose to remember him, despite her mother constantly saying he was a soulless monster who’d abandoned them. Her mother wanted her to hate him, but she couldn’t.

Coco only had a few memories of her father - his kind eyes and beautiful singing voice. She often imagined that he was out there somewhere, trying to get back to his family, but something was holding him back.

“You!” She spun around on her heels and caught Julio just a few feet away from her, partially hidden behind a vegetable cart. “What do you want?”

The sternness in her voice surprised even Coco herself. It was not in her nature, yet this boy had been following her around for weeks, and she was liable to get in trouble if her mother found out.

Julio trembled slightly but met her gaze. He had kind eyes too...and a soft voice. “Señorita... _perdóname_. I should have spoken to you sooner, instead of following you around town.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“It’s just that, today...you are not with Doña Imelda...like most days, so I was very close to working up the courage to do this...”

He stepped out from behind the cart to reveal a guitar, and he was readying himself to play her a song when she suddenly lunged at him, shoving him into a nearby alley.

“Señorita!”

“I’m sorry, but if you knew anything about me, you’d know that I am prohibited from listening to music of any kind. Not a hum or a whistle...not even a strum.” Coco then realized she was still pressed against Julio and his guitar. She cleared her throat and took a step back, smoothing the front of her dress. “Now, if you’ll excuse me...”

Julio seemed defeated, but he nodded to show his understanding. He was a handsome boy, not very tall, but muscular, and his hands were calloused from laboring in his family’s fields. She knew this much about him.

Julio must have sensed her staring at his hands, so he clasped them together and motioned towards the street. “After you, Señorita Coco...”

“I have heard you sing before.”

“Oh?” He lifted his eyes to meet hers, a smile settling into his lips.

“At _misa_. My mother thinks I can’t hear the music with my ears covered, but I still can. And your voice stands out from the others.”

“I’m glad you noticed.”

“Come.” Coco motioned for him to leave his guitar. “Let’s walk for a bit.”

They both peered out of the alley to make sure no one would see them emerge. Coco kept a respectable distance between herself and Julio, and he understood.

“The trick will be to introduce you to my mother before someone in the village tells her about us. She won’t like the idea of her daughter walking around with a strange man.”

“Strange? Am I?”

Coco laughed. “Maybe a little.”

“But a man nonetheless?”

She blushed and refused to look directly at him. “I suppose.”

They walked a little further before stopping in front of the _bodega_. Coco gently touched his wrist.

“We’re almost at the shop. I have to warn you. Mamá will insist that you leave the choir and renounce all musical activities. She’ll expect you to work in the family business, and it will take some time before she trusts you. But if you do these things...”

“Say no more, Señorita Coco. If I do these things, one day, perhaps we can become man and wife...”

“This is a great sacrifice that you should consider. Music is such a part of your life...”

“But...you must realize. There is music everywhere. Music in laughter and tears. Music when the soles of your shoes meet the ground. Music in your voice, the way it turns from hard to soft in a single moment. Music is what I hear when I see you...”

Coco was almost speechless, and a warm feeling began to spread from her heart to her fingertips. She heard the music too.

“Well, that, Señor Julio, is music to my ears...”


End file.
